Author Archives:

More on Lutz, Laudan, and Demarcation

In On Lutz on Laudan and demarcation, Paul Newall notes that: In his (draft) paper On an Allegedly Essential Feature of Demarcation Criteria of Science, Sebastian Lutz claims that demarcation does not require a criterion that is both a necessary … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, Evolution, History and Philosophy of Science, History of Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Politics, Religion, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Second Response to ‘The Politics of Demarcation’

Abstract. The most widely disseminated arguments against Intelligent Design have failed to produce invariant and objective demarcation criteria sufficient to establish that ID cannot be a matter of science. Ultimately, ID opponents rely heavily upon the fact of there being … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, Evolution, Feyerabend, History and Philosophy of Science, History of Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Politics, Religion, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

First Response to ‘The Politics of Demarcation’

Abstract: This is in response to The Politics of Demarcation, but the discussion here is largely limited to matters relating primarily to some assertions about whether demarcation is best regarded as a non-issue. In the comments section of this blog … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, Feyerabend, History and Philosophy of Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Politics, Religion, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Revisiting the Cosmological Argument

In a 1994 paper, Quentin Smith reported1 that world-renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking had, in his book, A Brief History of Time, “recently argued that there is ‘no place for a creator’, that God does not exist.” Did Hawking so … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Religion, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Philosophy in Science

What is philosophy of science? Is it in any way useful? If so, for whom is it useful? Is it at all useful to scientists in their scientific endeavors? Mark Perakh, a physicist, has said, “I dare to claim that … Continue reading

Posted in Galileo, Historiography, History and Philosophy of Science, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Heart of Islam

In the preface to his book, The Heart of Islam 1, Seyyed Hossein Nasr says: The world is thirsty for information about Islam, especially in America, yet this thirst has generally not been quenched with healthy water. In fact, a … Continue reading

Posted in Current Affairs, Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Politics, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Great Danger that is Creationism

What is it? What is the danger of those notions referred to as “Creationism” and “Intelligent Design”? What is it about these notions that drive some people, even many people in certain social circles, to veritable apoplexy – certainly an … Continue reading

Posted in Evolution, History and Philosophy of Science, Religion, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

About Evil, Part 4

The previous installment in this ‘About Evil’ series noted how Maximilien Aue, the narrator of Littell’s The Kindly Ones, managed to deny that Untersturmführer Döll was properly to be regarded as evil, despite his participation in exterminations as a guard … Continue reading

Posted in Literature, Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Politics, Religion, The Kindly Ones | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Characteristic of Freedom

Everyone knows what freedom is; everyone knows what it is to be free. That is until it is realized that distinctions such as freedom to and freedom from make it a bit more difficult to know what precisely the term … Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

About Evil, Part 3

The previous installment in this series introduced the person of Ikonnikov from Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate and contrasted his character with that of Untersturmführer Döll in Littell’s The Kindly Ones. Both men are interesting in themselves, but Döll is … Continue reading

Posted in Literature, Philosophy, The Kindly Ones | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment